Oxted and Le Rosey schools at the Nest

What a fantastic week! I wouldn't say late May is guarenteed good weather here in the south of France, but this year has been wonderful so far!

So good in fact that both groups this week went rafting down the River Tarn in shorts and t-shirts, and no one was bothered that they didn't have a wet suit, despite getting splashed by the other rafters!

And look at that for a blue sky!

Everyone worked fantastically hard this week, with Le Rosey collecting data for three lab reports, for the new Environmental Systems and Societies IB course; Mr Stenson and Ms Roche have never seen their students work so hard. We worked on ecosystems, pollution and energetics. Pretty good, I say.

Oxted School brought their year 10 students for the first time, and Hilda Shead (formerly Perkins, congrats to you both!) set up a good-fun week where we combined a river study, some work on weather and climate and tourism on the coast, with some fun activities including rafting, orienteering and a trip to Vulcania.

Hope you all had a great time!

Oxted School goes large

For those of you who come to the Eagles Nest in the Spring and Autumn months, here's what you are missing this week: volleyball with Oxted School, temperatures in the mid-20's, about a million butterflies and glow worms, cuckoos and Tengmalms Owls calling to each other in the forests - it is a fabulous week here in the Cevennes!

High pollen count!

Oh boy, if you ever wondered what you are missing in May here at the Eagles Nest, here's the answer - POLLEN! The broom is in flower now and looks absolutely magnificent, but I am so glad I don't suffer from hay fever.

There is pollen everywhere you go, you can see it blowing in the air, it covers the cars and the dried up puddles look yellow, where it has been floating in the water... Don't forget your piriton (insert the hayfever medication of your choice here) if you are coming to the Nest any time soon!

Today the very brave students from Cite Scholaire (the Anglophone section of this cite Tycee in Lyon, France) set off on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh overnight expedition. Here they are all loaded up with their rucsacks!

Cite Scholaire come every year for a 'British experience' of which the International Award is just a part. Others include eating Tunnocks wafers (Caramel bars) and marmite sandwiches whilst they are staying at the Eagles Nest!

They are due back to the centre tomorrow afternoon, having completed hikes of about 30 miles. Good luck guys!

Nestlins reunited

A crazy couple of weeks have passed, and time has flown! In addition to the students from Southbank International School (London), we have now welcomed the students of West Hatch (Essex), Rivington and Blackrod (Lancashire) and the International School of Dusseldorf (Germany, obviously...) to the Cevennes.

West Hatch and Rivington and Blackrod had the most amazing week of weather ever seen at the Nest, with the groups scaling 5m snow drifts at the Col de Finiels, marching across the icy wastes of Mont Lozere, and later in the week, basking in the Mediterranean heat on the sand dunes at La Grande Motte. There were a few red necks after a day on the beach, and a fabulous picnic at the Pont du Gard...

Last weekend, we saw the return of Kevin, Christine and Greg, our fabulous team of Nesters, who have all been over-wintering in Morzine, in the French Alps. Greg has amazed everyone (possibly even himself) by learning to ski like a demon, and has cooked alongside Sharif, one of the Masterchef quarter finalists, for the last 6 months, and we are expecting great things from him in the kitchen this year! Kevin and Christine didn't quite do the red run before they left, but Christine did break 2 bones in her hand learning to ski, so not surprising. Better than our excuse here at the Nest - we couldn't ski much because the road was always closed by snow drifts.

After a mammouth post-winter clean and tidy at the Eagles Nest, we were ready to meet and greet our first group here at the Nest. Dusseldorf have been a fabulous group, and despite a long coach journey, they arrived full of beans and ready to learn some new ecology skills - good, as by the end of the week they were expected to hand in a full investigation to be marked towards their final IB Biology grade! The first day was spent on aquatic ecology, followed by a day on terrestrial ecosystems, and then they put their new-learnt skills into action. All the students surprised themselves by going from ecology-new-comers to experts in 48 hours, not bad!

Projects ranged from comparing the invertebrates living in an ephemeral stream, to looking at how stonefly nymphs were affected by stream velocity, to investigating the distribution of plants in flooded hay meadows. All excellent work, and they were a real credit to themselves, their staff and to the school. Well done guys!

A new season begins at the Eagles Nest!

Well actually, it began at the ski station on Mont Lozere! As you will see from the picture (this is Eric digging out the caravans at the Eagles Nest - we were worried that the weight of the snow may collapse the caravan rooves!), we have had just a little bit of snow this Winter...OK, 5m at the Col de Finiels. So with some reluctance (but not much, it would have been impossible!) Discover kicked-off 2009 with the first groups at the ski station on Mont Lozere.

At the end of March, we were joined by the intrepid students from Southbank International School. Louise Harrison, a fabulous friend who we originally met with her students from the International School of Paris, brought her ever-expanding group of Geography IB students for a varied week of fieldwork which included a study of the River Souteyran, investigating the urban morphology of Mende (the Prefecture of Lozere) and a trip down to the sand dunes at La Grande Motte and a visit to the fabulous Pont du Gard.

In a week of true 'geographers weather', the students experienced -5 degrees to +20, snow drifts to sand dunes and some excellent geography case-studies which they'll be writing up for their IB standard or higher level submissons later this year. Good luck guys!